The Morphology Core (Core A) has existed since the beginning of the SDRC at our institution. It has been consistently a heavily utilized Core providing a diverse array of services to a large number of SDRC faculty and their associates. In the current proposal, the principal aim of the CMMC is to continue to provide stateof- the-art services and expertise to SDRC investigators using a wide variety of morphological and immunologic studies in which microscopic analysis plays a central role. The SDRC faculty responsible for Morphology operations provides access to highly trained technical personnel in very well equipped research laboratories. An additional goal is to foster exchange of technical information among SDRC members and to encourage the sharing of resources. Key features of this core are its flexibility in adapting to the evolving needs of SDRC faculty, and its comprehensive and innovative range of services designed to support the needs of both proposed and future SDRC-related morphological studies. These services fall into three Specific Aims with one new service not previously available to SDRC investigators (Ix)" Aim I. To provide state-of-the-art services, expertise and cost savings (i) embedding, sectioning, and staining facilities and routine histology services;(ii) immunolocalization methods for morphological studies (iii) microscopy, photomicroscopy with expert-guided hands-on training in a range of microscopic technologies;(iv) expert pathologic interpretation of microscopy of human and mouse tissue;design of experiments requiring morphology analysis;(v) image analysis;(vi) confocal laser microscopy;(vii) laser capture microscopy;(viii) flow cytometry analysis;(ix) small animal imaging (new); Aim II. To provide morphologic techniques and expertise that facilitate a "pipeline" of translational research and interdisciplinary projects involving skin research. Aim III. To promote career development with a skin-centered emphasis for research residents, fellows and faculty members by helping them to learn state of the art morphologic techniques as they build a body of preliminary data for research projects. We have a demonstrated track history in Morphology Core support for these three Specific Aims.